Volume 6 Issue 192 – Fiend Folio

RFI is back and delving into a little publication put out by TSR UK, called the Fiend Folio. We discuss the history and internal politics of the book, as well as a scathing review of it from Dragon Magazine. And we also talk about all the wonderful and wacky monsters in the book and why it deserves a place on your bookshelf, in this weeks Roll For Initiative.

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3 comments on “Volume 6 Issue 192 – Fiend Folio”

Hi. I just finished the review in Dragon Magazine. ZOUNDS!!
All of your opinions notwithstanding, I just had to give that article a decent look. And I have to say I’m surprised at the degree of negative critique Mr. Greenwood leveled at the Fiend Folio. Granted, that was issue #55 – 36 years ago = and perhaps his thoughts on the book have mellowed a bit.
In any case, it seemed to be an unnecessarily harsh review, particularly in light of the abundance of brain-fodder ripe for any sort of modification a DM might find necessary, even outside the scope of monster descriptions some readers might find too limiting. The opinions seemed closer to approximating the sort of closed-minded and stalwart rejection of imagination reflected in some modern players.
: mic drop :
Oh, wait …
: mic picked up again :
I liked the show. A lot. As always.
Cheers.

I’ve always had a warm place in my heart for the outlandishly charming Fiend Folio, and a lot of the monsters are just really, really cool. When it comes to the more bizarre creatures I wouldn’t use them as random or peripheral encounters. For me it would be a lot more fun to create an entire adventure around it so that the monster’s uniqueness could be fully appreciated, if that makes any sense. That way you can also explore your imagination to come up with an interesting origin for the creature to explain why it exists and why it looks and behaves the way that it does.